our hotel in Kuna Yala

I was in heaven in this hotel, which included three guest huts, a restaurant and a service hut on an island about 50 feet long. The place was called Dad Ibe lodge and cost about $60/night because it was low season. Here you see: 1) the restaurant and service hut; 2) the murder of our lobsters for dinner (i guess they need to be stabbed before going in the water; 3) the restaurant; 4) sunset at the pier; 5) my hut. Just in case you think we were too fancy on this trip, you should know that the next night in Mulatupu we stayed at a hotel that cost $5 and included a bunch of cots lined up in an open area over a bar/nightclub.

the Kuna people

Many, but not all, Kuna women dress as you see here, with a red cloth on their heads, bright cloth as a wrapped skirt, and they wear "molas," which are brightly embroidered pieces of cloth, covering their torsos. They cover their lower arms and legs with red, green and yellow plastic beads.

Relaxing Day at Las Sirenas

This is the second time we stayed at Las Sirenas. The resort is not fancy, but the beach is beautiful and quiet, the water is warm and calm, and cabins have kitchens (or an employee will light up the BBQ). This is our type of place, because it is only 90 minutes outside of PC without traffic and we are not dependent on any employees for our enjoyment - my cooking and crashing waves do the trick.

Krisi Visiting Panama

Our first visitor to Panama was the esteemed Krisi Jacobsen. We have tragically few pictures of her visit, but see her here in Casco Viejo with downtown Panama in the background. Also, we forced her to visit the Panama Canal, here she is pictured at the Miraflores locks.

Black and White Ball

On Saturday, we attended the Black and White Ball, which is supposedly modeled on Truman Capote's famous party from the 1960's. I doubt that Truman's party ran out of food at the buffet and had a slow cash bar, but in any case people dressed in Black and White.

Video of Jim Ziplining in El Valle

JB is a professional zipliner as you can see here. The video of me shows me crashing into the tree, which is why it isn't posted here.

Ziplining in El Valle

We had our first ziplining experience in El Valle, a little town in a pretty green valley created when a volcano erupted a zillion years ago. We hiked about 30 minutes up a hill and zipped down on four lines in about 8 minutes. A good time, and really beautiful - one of the ziplines went in front of a great waterfall (see below).